We are still enjoying our time here in Mexico and brought in the New Year in the company of friends at a local restaurant bar where we enjoyed a lovely buffet and live music.
New Year's Eve at Faces Restaurant
One of the New Year traditions here is to " Burn the Old Man" where an old man is either made or bought and everyone writes down all the bad things that happened in the year, put them in the old man and then at midnight he is set on fire. He is also filled with fire works so there is quite a display as he burns and we can look forward to a New Year without the bad events of the old year.
Since most of the people at the restaurant were older the party shut down shortly after midnight so we walked home and on the way met a group of our Mexican neighbours who were starting their party at midnight with loud music, drinks and foods. We stopped to say " Felix Nuevo Ano" and of course they wanted us to stay, which we did for awhile before moving on home. The party lasted until 5am!
Earlier on we went on a day tour with about 30 people from Progreso with our guide, Roussel, to spend the time in the countryside and a Mayan village.
We went in 3 small vans which is one of the main ways to get around here in the Yucatan...
Our first stop was at a very remote cenote, which is a sinkhole in the limestone that is often bottomless. Many people swim in the cenotes and they are quite refreshing...
Checking out the cenote while being careful where you step
It was way down with very rickety steps. This cenote was very deep with underwater caves so the police were doing training that day.
The police dog didn't want to go down!
We also got to meet some Mayan women who were making iguana tortillas.
They tasted something like chicken and were good!
We then went to a small Mayan village where we brought some piñatas for the children who had great fun breaking them open...
The ninos...
The ninas...
The reward, lots of candy to collect...
This little girl was too shy to participate.
We began with dancing around a basket with the head of the pig we were about to eat.
In the back of the garden candles are lit as we give thanks to the pig which was cooked in the large pan next to the candles.
The Shaman blessing the participants.
We had to eat and drink some traditional food...
This was some type of pork dish we ate a little while after it was made.
Here they are passing around a drink that is made by fermenting the bark of a local tree,and it did taste like a tree.
The Shaman said many invocations to the winds and to the Catholic saints.
Many of the villagers came for the feast.
There was a great band as well! It was an interesting few hours and I really enjoyed the local interaction.
On the way back we stopped at a Mayan site, Mayapan, which had few tourists and a very peaceful feeling as the sun went down on the Winter Solstice.
Mayapan was an important Mayan city built in 1250AD and had 12,000 inhabitants.
The Observatory is an important building here as the Mayans were excellent astronomers.
Some people climbed the central pyramid called the Castle of Kukulan.
The site is large with over 4000 buildings spread over four square kilometres.
After a long day we made our way back home where we feel very comfortable and right at home!
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